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What Are Macros? Everything You Need To Know | Nutritionist Explains... | Myprotein
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Jan 30, 2025
What are macros? Our expert nutritionist breaks down what macros are, and how to incorporate macros into a balanced diet. Macros (or macronutrients) are everywhere in nutrition. You’ve got the “if it fits your macros” diet, you’ve got "macro-friendly" recipes and you’ve got "macro splits". In this video, expert nutritionist, Richie Kirwan talks about the basic properties of each macronutrient. ********************************* Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/MyproteinUK?sub_confirmation=1 If you like this, you'll love this: https://youtu.be/7AvaHbTg_7M Find more nutrition advice here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkb17OgnhB-E3HuYJuEacRqMjrokvPxpI Download the Myprotein App: https://bit.ly/3dhVVUE ********************************* #Macros #Protein #Myprotein What Are Macros? Everything You Need To Know | Nutritionist Explains... | Myprotein
View Video Transcript
0:00
so you want to know all about macros but
0:01
don't know where to start let's talk
0:03
about that
0:06
how's it going guys my name is richie
0:08
kirwan and today we're going to learn
0:09
all about macros what they are where
0:12
they come from and how to use them to
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eat more in line with your physique and
0:16
health goals macros are everywhere in
0:19
nutrition these days you've got the if
0:21
it fits your macros diet you've got
0:22
macro-friendly recipes and you've got
0:24
macro splits which by the way are pretty
0:27
useless practically and i'll get around
0:28
to explaining why in another video the
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word macro is short for macronutrients
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macro comes from the greek word for
0:36
large and this is because macronutrients
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are nutrients that we get in large
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amounts like amounts that we can measure
0:42
in grams on the other hand we have
0:44
micronutrients like vitamins and
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minerals which we get in very small
0:48
amounts like milligrams and even
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micrograms there are four main
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macronutrients or macros protein fats
0:56
carbs and alcohol and a well-balanced
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diet will generally have a mix of the
1:00
first three with the alcohol being
1:02
optional all the macros are very
1:03
different from each other in terms of
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their properties but each macro is
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actually made up of a pretty diverse
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group of related but different molecules
1:12
first let's talk about the basic
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properties of each of the main
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macronutrients we'll start with
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everybody's favorite macro protein the
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word protein derives from the greek word
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protos which means of prime importance
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and that has a lot to do with protein's
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essential role in a whole host of
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processes in your body in terms of
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calories one gram of protein provides
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four calories of energy proteins are
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actually made of long chains of smaller
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molecules called amino acids the word
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amino comes from the fact that all amino
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acids contain an amine group which
1:43
contains nitrogen with protein being the
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only macronutrient that contains
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nitrogen there are 22 amino acids in
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human nutrition
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nine of which are considered essential
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because they cannot be formed in the
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human body and therefore we have to get
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them from our food the human body needs
2:00
amino acids in specific ratios in the
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body protein is necessary for growth and
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repair of various tissues
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honestly your whole body is just made of
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protein in different forms because it's
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used to form your skin your hair your
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bone ligaments and tendons and of course
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your muscle in this sense protein has an
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incredibly important structural function
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on top of that protein is essential for
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the formation of enzymes hormones
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antibodies and other signaling chemicals
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in your body in fact all of them are
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proteins with very specific chemical
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functions our bodies are actually very
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complex protein based machines that's
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how important protein is in reality all
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whole foods have some protein in them
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but the amount of protein can vary
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hugely for example 100 grams of lean
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steak can have about 25 grams of protein
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whereas 100 grams of broccoli has only
2:51
about 3 grams of protein the amount of
2:53
calories that comes with different
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sources of protein can also vary hugely
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too one of the highest quality proteins
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available is milk protein which includes
3:00
whey and casein they're considered high
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quality because their content of
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essential amino acids especially leucine
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as well as their very easy digestion
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other excellent sources of animal
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protein include eggs fish and lean meats
3:12
and great sources of plant protein
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include tofu and textured vegetable
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protein made from soy beans corn which
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is made from microprotein derived from a
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type of fungus and legumes like beans
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peas and lentils you can also get some
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protein from grains like wheat oats and
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barley and pseudograins like quinoa and
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nuts and seeds but they tend to come
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with far more calories than other
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sources that i've already mentioned so
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they probably shouldn't be the main
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sources of protein in most people's diet
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in terms of how much protein you should
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eat that depends on your goals but as a
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general rule aiming for a minimum of 1.2
3:44
grams of protein per kilogram of body
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weight is probably a good place to start
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if you're trying to build more muscle
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more protein can help with muscle growth
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and from 1.6 to 2.4 grams of protein or
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more per kilogram of body weight per day
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can be useful next up are fats or lipids
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with one gram of fat providing nine
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calories of energy fat is the most
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energy dense of the macronutrients that
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means that a small amount of fat can
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provide the same amount of energy as a
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much larger quantity of protein or
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carbohydrate for clarification both fats
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and oils are lipids and have the same
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caloric value fats are simply lipids
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that are solid at room temperature for
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example butter and oils are lipids that
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are liquid at room temperature for
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example olive oil for this video i'm
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just going to call them all fats fats
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are made up of chains of carbon atoms
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called fatty acids three fatty acids
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chemically joined to a molecule of
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glycerol form a lipid molecule hence the
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other name for fats triglycerides fatty
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acids vary a lot in length and in the
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number of double bonds that they contain
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and this alters the properties of the
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fats as well saturated fatty acids
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generally come from animal sources like
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the fat in and on red meat and in dairy
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foods and eggs but they come from plant
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sources too like coconut and palm oils
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which are actually solid below a certain
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temperature unsaturated fatty acids can
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be found in foods such as olive oil
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avocados almonds and other tree nuts
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sunflower seeds peanuts and most common
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vegetable oils flax seeds walnuts
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pumpkin seeds and oily fish fats have a
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lot of different functions in human
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nutrition they form the membranes around
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every cell in our body so they have a
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structural role they're concentrated
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energy sources which means they act as a
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very efficient form of energy storage
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otherwise known as body fat and they
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help us to absorb the fat soluble
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vitamins a d e and k and essential fatty
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acids play important roles in the immune
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system and inflammatory responses where
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the balance of omega-3 omega-6 is really
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important when it comes to how much fat
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you should have in your diet it really
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depends on personal preference and if
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you're a competitive athlete or not if
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you prefer more fat in your diet it's
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fine to have a higher fat diet and you
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can still lose or maintain weight on a
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high fat diet as long as you adjust your
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calories accordingly one thing to point
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out though is that very low fat diets
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can have side effects like a lack of
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energy poor physical performance and a
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decrease in sex hormones which can even
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lead to a loss of libido or sex drive
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now nobody wants that so make sure your
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fat intake doesn't drop below 0.6 grams
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per kilogram of body weight per day for
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an extended period which is more than a
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few weeks as a rule of thumb just
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subtract 100 from your height in
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centimeters and that'll give you a good
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daily minimum fat intake in grams so if
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you're say 180 centimeters tall take 100
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from that and that gives you 80 grams of
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fat per day as a rough minimum to aim
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for next up carbohydrates or carbs one
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gram of carbohydrates provides four
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calories of energy meaning they have the
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same energy content as protein carbs
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just like the other macronutrients are
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made up of smaller molecules joined
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together the basic units of carbs are
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monosaccharides or simple sugars which
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join together to form disaccharides two
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simple sugars or polysaccharides which
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are multiple molecules of simple sugars
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the three most common simple sugars are
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glucose fructose and galactose different
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combination of these sugars produce
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different polysaccharides there is no
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minimum requirement for carbohydrates in
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your diet as they are not considered
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essential but don't let that statement
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fool you just because something isn't
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essential doesn't mean that it doesn't
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have benefits think about whatever
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you're watching this video on your phone
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or tablet or laptop none of those are
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essential for your life but i bet you
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can do a lot of cool things with them
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same goes for carbs primary function
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that carbohydrate has in the body is to
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act as an energy source a role that can
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also be carried out by protein and fat
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if necessary however if you don't have
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enough carbohydrate high intensity
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exercise performance such as
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weightlifting or endurance exercise can
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take a dive virtually all competitive
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athletes benefit from having carbs in
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their diets either around training times
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or for competitions you can still
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perform well on lower carb diets but
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carbs definitely give athletes the
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competitive edge in fact some athletes
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can have as many as 12 grams of carbs
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per kilogram of body weight per day for
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a 70 kilogram athlete that's 840 grams
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of carbs daily or more in terms of your
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own diet i usually tell people to use
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the remainder of their calories after
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they've calculated protein and fat for
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their carb intake some people prefer
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more carbs and less fat some people
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prefer more fat and fewer carbs honestly
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for most people it doesn't matter if
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you're a competitive athlete don't skimp
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the carbs though sources of simple
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sugars include fruits table sugar honey
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juices and you can get starch from
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cereals and cereal products potatoes
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bread legumes like beans peas and
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starchy vegetables like pumpkins at this
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point i also want to mention fiber which
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is technically a carb but it's mostly
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indigestible by humans that said in the
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small intestine our gut bacteria can
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ferment fiber and produce short chain
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fatty acids which we can get some energy
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from high fiber foods have been shown to
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have a multitude of health benefits like
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improving blood sugar control reducing
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our cholesterol levels feeding our gut
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bacteria keeping us feeling fuller for
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longer and helping to keep us regular
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sources of fiber include whole grain
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cereals legumes fruit and vegetables and
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for more information on the benefits of
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fiber check out my fiber video here
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finally i'm just going to mention
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alcohol which has seven calories per
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gram making it the second most calorie
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dense macro next to fat besides being a
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source of energy alcohol doesn't have
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any other health benefits so i'm not
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going to say much more other than it
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shouldn't make up a very large part of
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your daily calorie intake a great way to
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learn about the macro content of the
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foods you eat is to use a macro tracking
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app it can help to teach you how much of
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each macronutrient you're currently
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eating and give you an idea of where you
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might be able to improve your diet and
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if you want to learn how to alter your
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macros to help you with either your
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muscle gain or fat loss goals check out
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my other videos on these topics
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another really great thing about
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understanding macros and what foods they
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come in is that it helps you to look at
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foods in a more neutral way what i mean
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by that is that it's really easy for
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some foods to get a healthy or diet
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friendly reputation and for them to be
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known as good foods while other foods
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get the reputation of being bad foods
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when you understand calories and macros
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and how they affect health performance
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and weight loss you begin to understand
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that you can still include a lot of your
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favorite foods in your diet it teaches
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you to think more critically of the food
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you eat instead of just accepting silly
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good or bad labels that diet industry
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has put on food that ability to think
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critically gives you a lot more freedom
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with the food you eat and that's a
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really good thing for your mental health
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so did that clear everything up about
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macros as always if you have any
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questions let me know in the comments
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below and remember to like and subscribe
10:27
to the my protein youtube channel for
10:29
more great evidence-based nutrition
10:31
information
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[Music]
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